Metropolitan Arrangements - Philippine Institute for Development ...

62 ManagingUrbanizationUndera DecentralizedGovernanceFramework
New city or metropolitan city
The metropolitan area may be structured as a metropolitan city
where the provision of most basic services is provided by a Single LGU
and where no other LGU operates in the area. A metropolitan city
may occur naturally by virtue of the prior existence of a political jurisdiction
whose land area is large enough to contain its urban sprawl
within its boundaries. Alternatively, a metropolitan city may result from
the annexation or amalgamation of a number of existing political
jurisdictions or LGUs into a single political administrative unit. Metropolitan
Bangkok is actually a merger of former municipalities of
Bangkok and Thonburi. The result was the creation of the Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration (BMA), an autonomous metropolitan
city government. The BMA charter provided for a metropolitan assembly
consisting of both elected and appointed members, each representing
a constituency of about 100,000 people, the equivalent of a
district. Aside from Bangkok, metropolitan cities in other countries
include Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Surabaya and Jakarta.
The metropolitan city structure provides some ease in coordinating
activities and implementing plans. The duplication of services
is less likely and the new city tends to be large enough to enjoy economies
of scale (Bahl and Linn 1992). The formation of a new citycan
provide a resolution to the legal administrative ties between the province
and the municipality/ies that are involved in the metropolitan
arrangement. Their legal identity in the local government system is,
thus, clearer and more defined. However, the weakness of the metro
city's structure lies in its general inability to account for intra-city or
neighborhood differences in the demand for the services.
For metropolitan arrangements that involve only a relatively few
local entities and where political and cultural forces are less problematic,
a plebiscite can be held for a new city charter. The CAMADA
may be an eligible candidate. Interviews conducted with high officials
of Dagupan City and the municipalities of Calasiao and
Mangaldan indicated no strong opposition to this option. However,
since the two municipalities thought that because Dagupan City has
twice their population, they may have to field one candidate for mayorship
or governorship for the newly formed political unit to compete
with Dagupan City.
Jurisd'wtional frabomentation with a second-tier government
The second approach to metropolitan governance is to allow
for jurisdictional fragmentation, i.e., the existence of several LGUs